Bats living under Del Mar bridge almost all relocated

DEL MAR  Most of the bats living underneath the North Torrey Pines Bridge have moved to a temporary habitat, a project engineer said.

All that’s left before Del Mar advances on its 2-1/2-year task to seismically retrofit the 1933 bridge is to ensure all the bats have migrated about 220 feet east to the temporary home.

Wade Durant, the project’s resident engineer, said crews would wait about two weeks. Construction workers did not physically move the bats, instead they installed a device that allows the bats out of crevices, but not back in.

Several species of bats live under the bridge. Workers covered the temporary habitat with bat guano to attract the animals to the home.

After construction, the historic bridge should be able to withstand a 7.0-magnitude earthquake for the next 50 years.